NEW MEXICO WOLVES ~ UTAH WOLVES

BEWARE THE HUNT UNRESTRICTED

ON NATIONAL TREASURES ACT, OR "HUNT ACT"

Posted on September 27, 2013

HUNT Act for Hunters. Legislation introduced Thursday in the U.S. Senate would increase hunting and angling access on public lands and bolster the nation’s outdoor recreation economy. The Hunt Unrestricted on National Treasures Act, or “HUNT Act,” introduced this afternoon by Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, directs federal agencies to inventory all public lands greater than 640 acres where hunting and fishing are legal but inaccessible with the goal of expanding access for members of the public. The legislation finances land acquisitions from willing sellers through a small percentage of Land and Water Conservation Fund monies. Heinrich introduced similar legislation in 2012, when he was a member of the House of Representatives. Some sportsmen’s organizations hailed the measure as a way of maintaining and expanding sportsmen’s access to public lands that provide important fish and wildlife habitat and offer valuable opportunities for hunting and fishing.

Legislation introduced today in the U.S. Senate would increase hunting and angling access on public lands and bolster the nation’s outdoor recreation economy.

The Hunt Unrestricted on National Treasures Act, or “HUNT Act,” introduced this afternoon by Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, directs federal agencies to inventory all public lands greater than 640 acres where hunting and fishing are legal but inaccessible with the goal of expanding access for members of the public. The legislation finances land acquisitions from willing sellers through a small percentage of Land and Water Conservation Fund monies. Heinrich introduced similar legislation in 2012, when he was a member of the House of Representatives.

Some sportsmen’s organizations hailed the measure as a way of maintaining and expanding sportsmen’s access to public lands that provide important fish and wildlife habitat and offer valuable opportunities for hunting and fishing.

“The HUNT Act would open millions of acres of landlocked public lands to public access, expanding the opportunity for sportsmen to hunt, fish and otherwise enjoy these uniquely American resources,” said Joel Webster, director of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership’s Center for Western Lands. “Sportsmen need two things to be able to hunt and fish: access and opportunity. We appreciate Senator Heinrich’s leadership in introducing this measure and specifically addressing the very real challenge of diminished public access to our publicly owned lands and waters.”

“Ensuring access to America’s public lands is good for people, good for communities and good for business,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of Outdoor Industry Association. “I applaud Senator Heinrich for introducing legislation that reinforces the importance of outdoor recreation to the economy and improves access for all Americans who enjoy hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation.”

Heinrich, who often hunts and fishes public lands, acknowledged that diminished access is a growing problem for sportsmen.

“Sportsmen say their No. 1 concern is the lack of access to our public lands across the West,” Heinrich stated. “The HUNT Act will open up these areas to hunting and fishing and grow our thriving outdoor recreation economy in the process. Hunting and fishing are a way of life for millions of Americans. As an avid hunter, I remain deeply committed to preserving our outdoor heritage for my children and for future generations.”

“­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The HUNT Act exemplifies a pragmatic approach to increasing access to public lands for hunters and anglers,” said Gaspar Perricone, director of the Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance. “We commend Senator Heinrich for his efforts to identify federal landlocked lands and for providing the necessary recourses to ensure that they are accessible by sportsmen. The HUNT Act will further reverse the trend of declining access to public lands for hunters and anglers.”

“American outdoors families are frustrated when they have public land on the map but are effectively locked out,” said Land Tawney, executive director of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “Senator Heinrich gets it. He hunts public lands, and this bill corrects that problem, using commonsense tools to open up access to land that is already in the public domain. That’s a win-win for landowners, hunters and anglers and all families that love the outdoors.”

“Senator Martin Heinrich’s reintroduction of the HUNT Act is a means to protect rural economies and our sportsman heritage,” said Kent Salazar, a National Wildlife Federation board member whose family has lived and ranched in New Mexico for several generations. “Without access to public lands for hunting, fishing and recreating in America’s great outdoors, our economy, our tourism and our citizens’ health will suffer. As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, I support Senator Heinrich’s bill because it is good for all Americans.”

“Heinrich’s perspective on this issue is a genuine one,” said Garrett VeneKlasen, southwest regional director for Trout Unlimited’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project. “Probably more than most members of Congress, he hunts and fishes on public lands, so this bill comes from a place of personal, intimate knowledge. He’s spot on when it comes to public lands sportsmen’s issues.”

Right now, the lands that are kept from hunting and fishing are so close to being the only refuge left for wild animals to propagate and flourish. By allowing hunters and fishers onto this property, this land, too, will lose viability as the rest of the lands are becoming due to over-farming, ranching, fishing, and hunting by poachers and trophy-seekers.

This is not a myth or a lie, there are already animals preyed upon by the predatory species that are over-flourishing and coming down with diseases like hoof rot because of human intervention.

Please, before you vote, have someone do the research and see that what I'm saying is the truth. You need to act, and act swiftly before we lose the last of the resources we have for future generations to enjoy.

Below are areas where this legislation is residing:

This bill has been assigned to the House Natural Resources committee.

This bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture committee.

This bill has been assigned to the House Natural Resources - National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands committee.

This bill has been assigned to the House Natural Resources - Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs committee.

This bill has been assigned to the House Agriculture - Conservation, Energy, and Forestry committee.

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.﻿

Courtesy of W.H.Cash. Thank you!

O

SURVEY REPORTS ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS

STRONGLY SUPPORT MEXICAN WOLF RECOVERY

Lobo! In other words a Mexican wolf. On March 29, 1998, 11 captive-reared Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) were released to the wild for the first time in the Blue Range Recovery Area of Arizona and New Mexico. Missing from the landscape for more than 30 years, the howl of the rarest and most unique subspecies of gray wolf, was once again greeted by the mountains of the southwest. Thank you to Maria Aspen

Survey says elite public opinion on wolves in Southwest may differ greatly from average citizen’s-

According to the results of a survey released by Defenders of Wildlife (see their news release below), Arizona and New Mexico citizens strongly support recovery of the Mexican wolf. 300 randomly selected registered voters in each state were interviewed by Tulchin Research in a telephone survey.

The Mexican wolf sub-species was reintroduced from near extinction back in 1998. So far the recovery has not been successful with high mortality, low reproduction, amid much political interference.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, is proposing big wolf restoration improvements even as the guns are legally blazing away at the Mexican wolf’s larger cousin in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. This winter trappers will again be allowed to take their fill and head back out for more.

It is widely believed that opinion of many politicians and “sportsmen’s” groups in these states does not favor this small wolf, but this may not apply to the unorganized public.

Political science research beginning over 20 years ago showed that even then, the policies that the federal government pursued generally matched the results of well established public opinion studies on most major policies only at levels near mere chance (correlations near zero).

An extremely strong argument can be made that in American politics the existence of political organizations far outweighs the views of the unorganized masses.

News Release

Defenders of Wildlife

TUCSON (September 4, 2013) – Vast majorities in both Arizona and New Mexico strongly support continued efforts to restore Mexican gray wolves to the American southwest, according to a new poll released by Defenders of Wildlife. The poll comes as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering new proposals that would hamper Mexican gray wolf recovery and scheduling regional hearings to obtain public input on the proposal.

The poll, conducted last month for Defenders by Tulchin Research, shows that the majority of New Mexicans and Arizonans want to see wolves not just survive, but thrive, and want the FWS to take additional steps to ensure their continued recovery.

· 87% of voters in both states agree that wolves are a “vital part of America’s wilderness and natural heritage.”

· 8 in 10 voters agree that the FWS should make every effort to prevent extinction.

· 82% of Arizona voters and 74% of New Mexico voters agree there should be a science-based recovery plan.

· Over two-thirds of voters in both states agree with scientists who say there are too few Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico and that we need to reintroduce two new populations of wolves in suitable habitat in the states.

“Americans in the southwest see wolves as a vital part of the local landscape and they want efforts to restore them to continue,” said Eva Sargent, Southwest director for Defenders of Wildlife. “The Fish and Wildlife Service can make this happen if they let science rule the day and refuse to kowtow to the small minority in the region who oppose wolf recovery under any circumstances.”

The FWS current proposal would jeopardize wolf recovery by establishing artificial boundaries around wolf habitat, leaving excellent habitat outside these boundaries. Currently, wolves must remain within invisible boundaries in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. If they establish territories outside this area, they are trapped and moved back, which scientists say is a hindrance to recovery. The new proposal would expand these boundaries, but would still capture and return any wolf that so much as strays outside.

“The Service continues to want to keep the wolves boxed in between arbitrary lines on a map,” said Sargent.“They are proposing a bigger box, but it’s still a box. If they are going to survive, we need to let wolves be wolves and allow them to live in suitable habitat throughout the region.”

Scientists also say that to recover, there need to be more releases of new wolves to strengthen the gene pool as well as new populations established in different areas of the Southwest, with dispersal allowed between those populations.

“By the late 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf was nearly eradicated and because today’s 75 wild individuals are all descended from the only seven wolves saved at that time, their genetic health has been severely compromised,” said Phil Hedrick, a geneticist and former Mexican gray wolf recovery team expert. “The Service knows this, and we have made it clear that if a recovery plan is not completed and implemented immediately, one which allows for dispersal, these animals cannot recover.”

The Service has announced that it will hold a public meeting to take comments that will help to determine the fate of these iconic, imperiled animals. The hearing will be held on Friday, October 4, 2013 in Albuquerque, NM. Defenders of Wildlife will host an open house for wolf advocates in advance of the meeting and members will be on hand to help attendees submit written and oral comments in hopes that we can make the Service hear the desperate howl of the Mexican gray wolf.

“If there’s one thing the Mexican gray wolves have on their side, it’s good objective scientists who are figuring out how to save them,” says Sargent. “What they don’t have is time. The Service must hear what science tells us the wolves need – access to suitable habitat in the Grand Canyon ecoregion and Northern New Mexico/Southern Colorado, new genes, and help establishing additional populations. When we give wolves our best effort, they return the favor by making landscapes healthier for everyone.”

The move comes after the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a federal permit to trap and capture Mexican gray wolves.

That 2011 permit allegedly stipulated that "endangered wolves that enter Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico or the Northern Rocky Mountains population can be captured or trapped and relocated to the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area (where they will be treated for all purposes as part of the nonessential experimental population), returned to Mexico, or placed indefinitely in a captive breeding facility." (Parentheses in complaint.)

Any wolf found in those states, outside the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in the Apache National Forest of Arizona and the Gila National Forest of New Mexico, was subject to the trapping and "indefinite incarceration," the Tucson-based environmental group added.

It voluntarily dismissed the action Monday after Fish and Wildlife Service announced separate agreements rescinding the plans.

"FWS acknowledges that any removal of a Mexican wolf by FWS is constrained by permit TE-091551-8 and 63 Fed. Reg. 1752 (Jan. 12, 1998), which provides that '[i]f a wolf is found in the United States outside the boundaries of the Mexican wolf experimental population area (and not within any other wolf experimental population area) the service will presume it to be of wild origin with full endangered status ... under the Act, unless evidence, such as a radio collar, identification mark, or physical or behavioral traits ... establishes otherwise,'" the five-page filing states.

Fish and Wildlife Service also proposed a change to a 1998 rule for managing roughly 75 wolves that were reintroduced into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, a small area in central Arizona and New Mexico.

The change allows for the direct release of wolves into the Gila National Forest, and expands allowed recovery territories to include all of Arizona and New Mexico between Interstate 10 and Interstate 40.

Under the current rule, wolves from a captive pool can only be released in Arizona and are captured if they establish territories outside the current recovery area.

"These agreements should breathe new life into the struggling Mexican wolf recovery program and expand the wolf's habitat here," Center for Biological Diversity spokesman Michael Robinson said in a statement. "The Mexican gray wolf is an icon of the Southwest and I'm thrilled it will have better protection."

Fish and Wildlife Service aimed to have at least 100 Mexican gray wolves in the wild by 2006, the environmental group said, but the program struggled amid illegal shooting, captures in response to livestock conflicts and restrictions on where wolves can be released from captivity.

"We're glad the Fish and Wildlife Service is finally making much needed changes to the Mexican wolf recovery program but these changes clearly don't go far enough," Robinson added.

"The science is clear that if Mexican gray wolves are to have any shot at recovery, they must be allowed to expand and establish population centers beyond what Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed.

The Grand Canyon, southern Rockies and borderlands all provide habitat where wolves could be restored. We sure hope the Fish and Wildlife Service will allow wolves to move into these areas."

The Mexican gray wolf is "one of the rarest and most endangered mammals on the continent," the Center for Biological Diversity says.

It calculates that only 75 Mexican gray wolves and three Mexican wolf breeding pairs remained in the wild at the beginning of 2013.

Probably shouldn't see this photo immeditately before you eat or sleep :(

~Heidi ~

*Disclaimer, just my opinion, and is NOT included in the wordpress blog article

by Stephen Capra

Another weekend is about to pass in New Mexico, and another group enjoyed killing innocent animals. So goes it, in the modern, or perhaps throwback American West. South of Albuquerque, in Valencia County is a special place of hell for animals. It is known as Gun Hawk. It is a gun shop owned by people of greed, which make their money off the killing of innocent animals. Their method is to sponsor “killing contests” of coyotes, prairie dogs, and perhaps if they had their way, wolves.

This so-called company thrives on the negative publicity they receive, because like conservation groups, it allows them to become a cause, only they are a cause for fools. You see, if you use the words freedom enough, and talk about heritage, you will have an ample supply of cowboys, young guns, Tea Partiers and worse yet the media, which will quote everything you say without a moments fact checking.

So what this pathetic company is doing is creating a working model for others to emulate in the future. Their bravado is empowering to communities like Clovis, and allows them to take their stand despite science, compassion and simple reason. When George Bush was President many of us protested his war, his environmental policies, his views on abortion. We did it like Americans before us had. We made our case clear and went to the streets to make our case. We did not harm people with whom we disagreed. What has changed is how those on the other side approach dissent. They plant bombs and kill those that believe in a woman’s right to choose. They carry on very public killings of innocent animals, not just for fun, but because they know it is painful to us and they want us to see the carcasses of their personal rage.

To counter this opposition will require that the conservation movement, like Silicon Valley be open to new ways of engaging and fighting for our principles. We cannot speak to these people and try to reason. It is like a conversation with a sociopath, and they simply would not understand the language. I believe in organizing. I see it as essential, but the time has come where you must go from talk to action. Reason is not a guaranteed part of success.

Last week we were in Clovis, we spent time looking at the prairie dogs. Our supplemental feeding and some rain have brought them back to health. I watched as they played and as they stood guard over their territory and thought to myself, they have no idea what is occurring, no idea of the fight. Then another thought occurred, perhaps they do, perhaps they are preparing themselves for what may come. They are hoping for freedom, but resigned to death. Animals sense what is not spoken. They live with dignity and they die with even more.

So we are going to save them, which is not a goal; it is part of the center of our heart and part of our commitment to them. We spoke with the Mayor, the paper and listened to rage, and to phony religious ramblings. As they spoke I searched for their pulse. I looked deeply into their eyes trying to see their personal pain. Was it childhood, was it divorce, it matters not. We all have burdens to overcome, that is the essence of life. When they were done, I knew that our job was far from over.

The earth is heating up, this we know. Many continue to deny that climate change is real. I mention this because people are also heating up. Reason and civility are being lost as the planet continues to boil, as our artic ice melts. It would be easy to say, I want no part of this, I want a home in the country, or to move to Europe. Part of modern society, is a staunch reality that as humans we must be able to absorb more pain and visually see the result of our actions.

The challenge that we all face is how to get us on the right course. We have so many great alternatives, and it begins demanding that we share this planet with all animals-forever. Be it Clovis, be it Africa, or be it the bounty and beauty of our oceans. Stare into the eyes of an animal; you will experience one thing-love.

We can never rest while wolves are being slaughtered. While Coyotes and prairie dogs are killed for fun and laughter. However, we must change tactics, and we must be forceful in our message. People who kill for fun are cowards. What is occurring in simplification- humanity is being bullied. The way for change is to confront the bully, without fear. With this hot powered strength, the bully will yield.

We will soon begin airing our gorilla commercials to fight for the prairie dogs of Clovis and we have plans for a certain gun shop as well. Please help if you can, it’s time we all stare down the bully and share the land with our true kin, the lives that live it wild.

A very wise and learned man stated succinctly my feelings, “When you destroy nature you destroy one’s own nature as well. It kills the song.” Thank you Joseph Campbell

3 comments:

Please keep and stand up protect our nature and wildlife, they are beautiful and wonderful in the world, help them to balance and lifegiving to the world wide. this is necessary and important in the earth, do the right things help save our wildlife and natural , don't let health lost Thank you

thank you so very much after seeing those horrible pictures of wolf hunting season i cried, after i read this i was so happy to know some people are fighting back to stop wolf hunting.Since im a wolf lover i cant wait till wolf hunting is stopped for good...